Wednesday, December 30, 2015

33 films vie for my top ten of 2015, which I'll announce tomorrow (i.e. must-see and recommended titles). As I didn't have over ten films in my "must-sees" (only 2!!) this constitutes a weak year (in my opinion a VERY weak year).As always, I've viewed 60 films this year; below are my one-line commentaries on each:

Must see [2]:

Ant-Man. The best summer movie, a surprise hit that gets
the humor right and manages to cover the origin story without getting dull.

Mad Max: Fury Road. I’d love to see the storyboards!

Recommended [33]:

Avengers, The: The Age of Ultron. Exciting start to the
summer movie season.

Big Short, The. Well-paced and well-acted.

Bridge of Spies. Good story, good production all around.

Clouds of Sils Maria. Pretentious as all out, but
intriguing and well played by its two leads.

Creed. A solid shot for a sentimental Oscar for Sly.

Danish Girl, The. Sensitively acted and told, if just
above average.

Diary of a Teenage Girl. Evocative of its time: the era
and life stage.

The End of the Tour. Easy to overrate but nonetheless
watchable; Jason Segel is quite good.

Ex Machina Keeps
you engaged and not just with its ample nudity.

Get Hard. Hart and Farrell make a good team and Ferrell’s
character is funny, but it does get repetitive.

Hateful Eight, The. Violent western-cum-mystery, with a great Morricone score, is exactly the kind of Christmas present you'd expect from Tarantino.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

As is tradition, it's time for me to reveal my votes for this year's National Film Registry, due to be announced in about a month's time by the Library of Congress. We'll see how many of mine they pick!

Last year's list spanned the years 1913-2004, and included: The Dragon Painter (1919), Down Argentine Way (1940), House of Wax (1953), Rio Bravo (1959), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), The Big Lebowski (1998), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Also included were the usual selection of obscurer, but no-less-deserving picks such as Please Don't Bury Me Alive! (1976) considered to be the first Chicano feature film. A link to the Hollywood Reporter article from last year can be found here.

The National Film Registry started in 1989, and there are currently 650 films on the list. Although there does seem to be less of a push for great films these days over those of "cultural" importance (Librarian of Congress James M. Billington has been quoted to say: "These films are not selected as the best American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture"), there is still at least an unconscious push for inclusion of those considered works of art. If the selections were based entirely on cultural "endurance" over that of a quality assessment, why would such narrative films that made the list last year as The Power and the Glory (1933), Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), and The Gang's All Here (1943) [films hardly part of the contemporary zeitgeist] make it in over such perennial shut-outs as The Seven Year Itch (1955), The Birds (1963), and Grease (1978)?

Below are my picks for what should be on this year's list (I only do well-known narrative feature films: I'll let the Library of Congress decide on the obscure works). To me, the film that most needs to be added above all (my choice now SIX years running!) is Blue Velvet. Last year three of my picks made the list: Rosemary's Baby (1968), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), and The Big Lebowski (1998).

Best Actor: Bradley Cooper in American Sniper; Michael Keaton in Birdman; David Oyelowo in Selma; Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel; Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler; Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins; Tom Middleton in Only Lovers Left Alive; Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything; Miles Teller in Whiplash.

Best Actress: Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything; Tilda Swinton in Only Lovers Left Alive; Agata Trzebuchowska in Ida.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

30 films vie for my top ten of 2014, which I'll announce tomorrow. As I didn't have over ten films in my "must-sees" this constitutes a weak year (in my opinion a VERY weak year).As always, I've viewed 60 films this year; below are my one-line commentaries on each:

Must see [7]:

Edge of Tomorrow. Rare film where you enjoy the ride while
you're wondering about the mystery (rather than just waiting for the end).

Ida. Beautifully
shot film that gets more interesting and complex as it goes along.

Obvious Child. Nice
to have on in the background while you read your Sunday New York Times.

Raid 2, The.
Ambitious, with two solid action sequences at the end, but pretty gory and less
organic than the first.

Sin City: A Dame to
Kill For. As with the 300 sequel, Eva Green supplies the goods (in more ways
than one), but unlike the 300 sequel the style here still has a freshness if
the film itself gets repetetive.

Skeleton Twins,
The. Slight dramedy with two actors who are brilliantly compatible; and quite a
few laughs throughout.

Snowpiercer.
Farfetched, but one of the easiest movies to recommend this year.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Well, I'm certainly behind this year! I'm hoping that Selma comes to town this week as expected and then I'll have my list together. Either way, I'm giving it until March 1 (a week after the Oscars) and will definitely announce then. Hope to have my annual Oscarcast review out soon as well.

UPDATE: I'll announce on 3/8 (wow, has this year been delayed for me!)

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Last year after the Oscar nominations were announced I blogged the following: "As for the reading of the nominations? When will the Academy ever learn NEVER ever ever to have the Academy president be a part of the broadcast. Love that reading of "you may know them better as U2"-- what feeling!"

Now we have the Dick Poop dealy. Let me guess: next year the Academy Pres will still read the nominations-- prepped this time like crazy-- and will STILL flub something.

My favorite wise-ass online comment was the person who said: "Honestly this wasn't Dick Poop's best work. Feels like a career nomination." HILARIOUS!

Close second, the Twitter comment: "Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Dick Poop."

Yesterday, I put together a list of my predictions for Best Picture nominations and I thought that Into the Woods might find its way on the list (it didn't and I'm glad) and that Mr. Turner might also make it (would have been a nice "surprise," although I haven't seen it and can't actually judge if it ought to have been [someone I know who saw it deemed it "boring"]). I predicted that The Theory of Everything and Foxcatcher, both widely predicted to be nominated but movies no one seemed to be satisfied with would get the boot-- was right about Foxcatcher. I also predicted that Nightcrawler would be deemed too "creepy" for a Best Picture nomination-- was right about that too. Was at least expecting some acting nominations for it though.

Although I didn't get around to making my usual blog post on most-nominated film my prediction was Birdman (which tied Grand Budapest with the most nominations at 9).

The "really lame" award goes to nominating Meryl Streep for Into the Woods. Please compare Rene Russo's performance in Nightcrawler to Streep. Even Meryl would tell you it should have been Rene in there. In fact that whole category is a joke except for Patricia Arquette who is a SLAM DUNK to win. Start writing your speech Patricia. Actually the entire acting race is wrapped up: Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons. They should all write their speeches today, it's over.

The bad decision to expand the Best Picture nominees to up-to-ten strikes again: Selma nominated for Best Picture and Best Song. Which would suggest it's Best Picture nomination makes absolutely no sense. Except it is supposed to be really good.

Yesterday, I was also thinking that Birdman would take home Best Picture and Boyhood would get Best Director and that's looking a little more solid after the nominations. I thought American Sniper had a chance at maybe a Best Picture upset if Bradley Cooper got a nomination-- he did, but Clint was out, making that possibility highly improbable.

Still don't understand The Grand Budapest Hotel love. It will probably win for its only truly deserved nomination: Art Direction.

I haven't seen Whiplash but by all accounts it's the one to see. I hope to have my top ten movies and noteworthy achievements out soon, but can't guarantee a date because I need to at least see American Sniper, The Imitation Game, and Whiplash (and for acting: The Theory of Everything and Still Alice) before I can post it. Only American Sniper appears to be opening in town this week.

The Reviews

Here is a list of the 2017 films I've seen, and my opinion of them. Filmmakers who toil on the almost-impossible mission of making a feature length film should not have their work dismissed on a pass-fail basis so easily. That being said, this is just one man's opinion, and on a blog at that, and the savvy moviegoer will read enough of the reviews of professional film critics to allow a blog here and there to "list" favorites and least favorites.

Must See

n/a so far

Recommended

Get Out. Best seen as satire.

John Wick: Chapter 2. Will please fans of the original (when it gets going)-- it's even better than the first, if, at times, the violence gets video game-ish.

Kong: Skull Island. Summer movies have started two months early; fun!

Skippable

Logan. Maybe what was needed story-wise, but a little too Terminatoresque in the telling, and far too depressing overall.